Friday, 23 December 2011

To further our Ledbury campaign, Giles and I are planning to run a big-ish game in February next year. This means lots of buildings and scenery to represent the town.

Giles has spent a lot of time, money and effort getting things together, which has shamed me into at least contributing something, despite my lack of terrain building skills. And so, scraping together whatever odds and ends I could find, I started making some walls - something that we'll need a lot of!

First off I used some old strips of packing foam to make some rough stone walls. I glued the foam to some strips of card, coated them with PVA glue (adding the occasional lumps of dried up Milliput), painted them grey, washed them with Quickshade and matt varnished them.

The results aren't perfect, but not too bad for a first timer!

The next lot of walls came about after I discovered the excellent Paper Brick website﻿, which allows you to choose from a wide variety of brick styles, mortar colours and layouts, that you can then print out.

So I made some basic walls out of cardboard, printed out some bricks and glued them on. Very quick, easy and, if you squint a bit, not too shabby!

These figures are some spare Wargames Foundry WW1 trench raiders I had knocking around, so I added some extra tank-busting equipment such as a crowbar (for prising open hatches, down which a Mills bomb can be thrown﻿), sticky bombs (for attaching to and blowing up vulnerable parts), a great big wooden beam (for levering off caterpillar tracks) and a spade (for, er, digging stuff).

Note that they all wear black gloves in order to look sinister, not because I mucked up the resculpting of the hands... *cough*

Thursday, 15 December 2011

After the flight of the Bishop of Hereford, the people of that city would have been forgiven for considering themselves lucky compared to the counties other major settlements. The inhabitants of Bromyard and Leominster reluctantly played host to various fascist militias, Kington had fallen into the hands of the Welsh, the Anglican league had retreated to Ross while Ledbury was fast becoming a battleground between various factions.

Hereford itself seemingly existed in a state of calm – an oasis of relative normality thanks to the royalist authorities who needed a functioning city in which to base their centre of operations. Despite viewing its inhabitants with suspicion, work, trade and to some degree an amount of religious expression were allowed to continue unmolested.

Rather than witness hordes of jackbooted Blackshirts marching down Broad Street, Herefordians were allowed to organise their own defences. The status of the Herefordshire TA was ambiguous – some had fought for the Anglican League, some had gone off to fight for the King, while others simply packed up and went home. Filling this gap were the Herefordshire Constabulary Volunteer rifles – hardly a reassuring sight for Englishmen unused to the spectacle of armed policemen.

Soon many of the city’s most prominent men began to petition for the raising of a civilian force. Under their urging groups of armed men began to present themselves to various council officials, pledging to defend their districts despite the fact that carrying arms was generally frowned upon by those in charge. The authorities knew better than to go against this feeling – after all a safety valve for the citizen’s anxieties couldn’t hurt.

And so the Hereford Municipal LDV was formed – a company of trusted men led by a legal official of good standing. While not exactly of right-wing persuasion, these men have volunteered to defend the city and, if necessary, sally forth into the countryside to protect the interests of their fellow ‘townies’.

(Figures are from Musketeer, with an Artizan and Bolt Action figure thrown in, commanded by a Wargames Foundry Victoriana solicitor.)

Wednesday, 7 December 2011

‘Hairy’ McClary was an unlikely figure in the ranks of British fascism - every inch the stereotypical Scotsman: rough, mad eyed, hard drinking and with a beard as red as the highland ferns in autumn. This formidable figure went from being a down-and-out on the streets of London to the leader of one of the strangest pseudo-fascist units in the history of the civil war: the Sidcup highlanders.

With the onset of civil war and the proclamation of the Scottish Republic, many a royalist nobleman lost his estates north of the border. Absentee landowners based in England, who only ventured north for the Glorious Twelfth, could only look on impotently as their castles, farms and shooting grounds were confiscated by the Scottish government and either given over to new masters or left abandoned.

Suddenly thousands of gillies, tenants, groundskeepers and house staff found themselves without a master. The vast majority of them swore loyalty to the new order, while some joined pro-British groups within Scotland. A sizeable number however fled south (passing the throng of fellow Scots heading the other way to join the Republic) hoping to secure employment within their lords’ English possessions. Sadly not all of the landowners reciprocated this loyalty, and many an out of work Scot found themselves joining ranks of the English unemployed.

They made their way to London, where into this dispossessed diaspora, many of whom had fought in the Great War, came those few present day Scottish soldiers whose loyalty to the Crown was greater than loyalty to their country and those of Scottish descent who had found themselves marginalised by the antics of the ‘traitorous’ Scottish government.

Forced into poverty and vilified, suspected and distrusted by the English authorities, their plight was ignored until one day an unlikely saviour came along in the shape of Roderick Spode: 7th Earl of Sidcup and leader of the pseudo-fascist Blackshorts.

Spode’s King Offa’s Legion had recently been issued with a serious drubbing in the disastrous siege of Causton and he was desperate to add some kind of ‘backbone’ to his force. Quite by chance he and his wife Madeline came across Archie ‘Hairy’ McClary: formerly head gillie at Madeline’s uncle’s highland estate. At his wife’s urging, Spode reluctantly took this scruffy down-and-out for a bath and a good meal at his club, where he learnt of the plight of his fellow Scots.

McClary assured Spode that he and his compatriots, tough and fierce fighters with many a year’s military experience between them, would follow anyone who pulled them out of the gutter to hell and back, especially if there was a ‘couple of bob for a wee dram’ thrown into the bargain. Lord Sidcup, while not necessarily an intelligent man, knew a gift horse when he saw one and soon had McClary gather his associates. Fortified with a whisky or two they proved remarkably receptive to Spode’s Blackshort rhetoric and soon were volunteering to join his legion.

Kitted out in surplus military gear and dressed in a Scottish version of the Blackshort uniform (wartime shortages meaning that Spode had to fall back on the usual black cloth, rather than tartan for their kilts), a new unit was formed and the great English knee was joined by the braw bricht knee of the Scot. King Offa’s Legion has found it’s backbone in the shape of the Sidcup Highlanders!

Oh, and a word to the wise: if you’d prefer your bones to remain in their current alignment, don’t call them ‘Blackskirts’ to their faces…

(Figures are mainly Great War Miniatures Highlanders, Tommy gunner is Artizan and McClary is from Crusader Miniatures.)

I had a spare Lord Cirencester figure knocking around, and so, with a bit of chopping and changing, I came up this this chap to lead my embryonic Anglican League force...

Brigadier Gideon Langnecke was already a highly decorated soldier by the time of the Great War, having served in numerous colonial campaigns and being wounded during the Anglo-Boer war. Present during the latter stages of the Gallipoli debacle, Langnecke was perhaps a little too vocal in his criticism of the handling of the campaign.

As a result this professional career soldier was shunted off into a number of advisory roles, touring the world as part of various military missions. A somewhat unconventional and outspoken character, Langnecke impressed and infuriated his hosts in equal manner and was eventually obliged to retire from service in the mid-1930s.

Angry and resentful of his superiors and the system in general, he returned to his ancestral pile near Goodrich, Herefordshire, to take up a life of the restless ex-soldier turned country gent. Railing against the establishment through inflammatory letters to the newspapers, the events that led up to the civil war led Langnecke to denounce the King and soon he was drilling with the LDVs of the local Anglican League.

His enthusiasm and leadership skills quickly drew him to the attention of the Reverend Meredith, leader of the Ross-on-Wye Anglicans. While a fierce orator, Meredith was well aware of his military shortcomings, especially in the light of the setbacks he suffered during the Ledbury campaign. He needed a military commander, and Langnecke fitted the bill perfectly.

Thanking God, not for the first time, for saving his bacon, the rebel vicar handed the reins of martial power to Langnecke while he shouldered the spiritual responsibilities. And so, late in life, Brigadier Gideon Langnecke became commanding officer of the Archenfield Anglican League.

(Figure is a converted Lord Cirencester from Mutton Chop Miniatures, with a Westwind head and Bolt Action plastic hand/pistol.)﻿

Wednesday, 2 November 2011

So I had a few days to go before the big game, and I wondered whether I could get another unit painted up in time. Luckily I had recently bought some of Artizan’s excellent policemen and so the race was on to see if I could plaster on enough dark blue paint before I headed out into Worcestershire!

It transpired that I did – and was even able to do a couple of weapon swaps (TAG weapons again) to give one constable a Tommy Gun, and another a BAR. While not everyone may feel comfortable with arming the British bobby in such a way, in these troubled times it is sometimes necessary to employ some chunkier weaponry when it comes to apprehending more heavily armed criminals.

Two ‘Evelyn’ armoured vans from ‘6milphil’ and his new venture, Slug Industries.

The first one, which you may have spotted in previous battle reports, doubles up as a lingerie delivery van – there’s no reason why the Spodes shouldn’t do a little business in between scraps!

The second van, painted up for Evesham, could be for any faction. The gun barrel at the front was a little miscast, so I drilled it and stuck in some wire. A bit of plastic at the end and you’ve got yourself an anti-tank gun!

During my manic last minute pre-Evesham painting session, I suddenly realised that I needed to cobble together a brigade command group. I managed this by scraping up some spare painted figures and borrowing a signaller from Giles.

I also had a spare Wargames Foundry WW1 trench raider knocking around, which, after swapping his rifle for some wire, made a passable standard bearer for the dastardly fascists.

The whole group (Brigade CO, batman, standard bearer and signaller) can be seen in this photo, hiding from the lefties' artillery and HMG fire in a building.

Monday, 31 October 2011

Last weekend’s big game at Evesham, hosted by the fine chaps at Gripping Beast and organised by VBCWmeister ‘Mort’, was brilliant! Let me make that clear now, for after reading the following battle report, you’d be forgiven for thinking I had a miserable time!

The town of Causton and its environs was represented by two tables, each resplendent with lovely bits of terrain and buildings. One table represented the northern approaches to the town, the other the south, with the town straddling the gap between the two. This gap represented the largely impassable river, with the exception of when it meandered out into the southern table.

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The northern table

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The southern table

﻿The dastardly forces of the BUF, consisting of me and fellow GWP members Giles and ‘Reiverdance’, were given the job of taking Causton on the southern table.

Having only recently started collecting and painting VBCW miniatures, I had my work cut out building up an army to the 2500 points size required by the scenario. In the end my force – the Herefordshire Expeditionary Brigade – consisted of my battalion of Blackshorts (command, three infantry companies and HMG and anti-tank rifle support), my LPA battalion (command, two companies of shotgun infantry, a team of snipers and a mob of scarecrow protesters) and enough figures scraped together to make a brigade command (including my Edward VIII and Wallis figures – impersonators doubling as morale officers!)

I then cadged two black-clad BUF companies, an HMG team and some command figures from Giles which, together with my hurriedly painted police company, made up another battalion. Finally I borrowed a Vickers MkII medium tank from Giles to supplement my two ‘Evelyn’ improvised armoured vans to create an armoured company. This force, while perhaps true to the amateur spirit of VBCW, was in retrospect severely lacking in heavy firepower, as I was soon to discover!

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The Herefordshire Expeditionary Brigade - note the BUf/police battalion bottom right and the circular 'redoubt' top left

We fascists were allowed to set up our forces on three sides of the southern table and I rather unimaginatively elected to bring my troops on at the southern end, opposite the town, taking up the far left flank and thus lining up alongside my fellow bad guys.

Facing me was Rob with his socialist Chester Local Defence Force, complete with HMG-armed motorised Trachankas, LMG-toting sports cars and truck-borne socialist militia. Supporting him was a battery of artillery and a mortar holed up in Causton. My force, a third of which carried only shotguns or farming implements, was rather outgunned.

My first mistake was to bunch my battalions together. The BUF/police were all jammed into a walled enclosure in a small village at my far right; the motorised company took up the road to their left; while in the countryside to their left I put the Blackshorts; leaving my LPA as reserve. Seeing such a tempting target, the socialist artillery in Causton, commanded by ‘Red Rich’, opened up on my BUF/police battalion before I even knew we had started! The bemused Blackshirts were blown to smithereens and I lost an entire BUF company, the HMG and half the command unit before I had fired a shot. The two surviving companies took refuge in the village buildings, joined by the brigade command, lest they be next on the artillery spotters list. Luckily his attention was then occupied by Reiverdance’s advancing tanks and I was spared any further artillery mauling.﻿﻿

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The survivors take cover

Facing me, having won the first initiative roll, Rob immediately and bravely took the battle to me by advancing his Trachankas into a circular hedged field that just screamed ‘redoubt’. Backed up by his racing cars, anti-tank rifle team and mortar, he proceeded to shoot up the Blackshorts, who lost their entire HMG/anti-tank support company.

I was left with nothing bigger than the cannons of the armoured company, who singularly failed to take out the Trachankas or indeed much else, and were soon facing fire from Rob’s forces not only in the redoubt but also the company of schoolboys he had placed further back.

Socialist Trachankas begin to occupy the 'redoubt' and knock out the Blackshort support company

My 'plan' was to decimate the redoubt, while the shotgun-toting LPA reserve, screened by the scarecrows, outflanked them. With firepower now seriously unbalanced in favour of the socialists, this sweeping action became a slow slog as the Blackshorts took cover in a nearby cornfield and returned fire against Rob’s machine guns. My only hope was to deploy my reserves only and try to get up close so that the shotguns could do their grisly short-range business. This move would also bring on the LPA sniper team, who, it transpired, were the only ones able to deal with the Trachankas by picking off their crew.

With the landowners forced to support my attack on the redoubt, the now reduced flanking move was slowed down by the scarecrows, who, while being an effective shield, went to ground time after time due to the withering fire they faced not only from the redoubt (now reinforced by a company of militia), but also a company of militia recently deployed along a hedge-line behind the redoubt.

On come the LPA reserves

Meanwhile my armoured company was taking heavy fire while not giving much back (at one point I was forced to declare my vehicles as ‘open hatched’ and thus vulnerable, so that they could successfully spot their targets!) These vehicles, together with the surviving BUF and policemen, did their best to hold the village against the schoolboys’ accurate (I say jammy!) rifle fire, in addition to mortar and HMG fire from the defences of Causton – not very promising since it was me who was supposed to be on the attack!

It's not looking good in the village...

Further along the table, Reiverdance and Giles had advanced slowly, eventually reaching the river but going no further as Red Rich’s dastardly artillery began to zero in on the BUF armour. Of the three of us, Giles was having the better time of it, but still could not crack the defences of his opposite number in time.

The fascist advance stalls

At the redoubt I had managed to deplete the defenders (forcing back the militia company) and silence most of the Trachankas, but only through judicious use of snipers and political officers to stop my forces from breaking. However by now I had lost all my armour to Rob’s fire, while the BUF and police were wavering. The end for them came when Rob’s Light Car Reconnaissance Squadron raced towards the village with machine guns blazing, causing the remainder of the BUF battalion to take to their heels and catch the next train to Hereford.

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Speedsters clear the village (bloody boy racers...)

﻿With such a large hole punched in the fascist line, Reiverdance was forced to deploy some of his reserves to fill the gap, lest the socialists roll up his flank. In order to deal with these reserves, Rob withdrew his forces from the redoubt, putting them back into their trucks to drive down to the recently cleared village. Obviously he no longer saw my forces as a threat – I didn’t know whether to be relieved or insulted!

At last the battered but victorious Trachankas withdrew from the redoubt, leaving the route to Causton open for the Hereford Expeditionary Brigade. However they were in no position to take advantage of this. And thus the day ended with my forces well short of their intended target and the defences of the town still intact.

Come back - you haven't finished thrashing us yet!

On the northern table, things had gone a little better for the Royalists, who had taken the hotel (a major objective for one of the factions) and giving the Anglican League defenders of Causton a severe mauling.

However on day two the Anglican League and socialist allies managed to make back much of the Royalist gains on the north table, whilst successfully defending a further BUF attack in the south.

So what lessons did I learn from my first ever big game?

1 – Buy bigger toys. It is only natural that players will want to bring their biggest and baddest kit to these events and one needs to have an effective answer to this unless such big guns are limited in future scenarios.

2 – Don’t lump one’s troops together. You might as well paint a great big target over them!

3 – Be more imaginative with one’s deployment. I could have started at another table edge and thus bypassed such an obvious defensive position as the circular field, although this would risk me being cut off from the other BUF brigades. I would still have got battered but might have had a less static game!

4 – Big games are fun no matter what! Yep, despite being so utterly drubbed, it was great to meet so many VBCW fans and put the faces to the usernames. I was also nice to drool over other players’ toys and have one’s own toys drooled over in return – huzzah for big games!

Wednesday, 26 October 2011

This Saturday I’ll be off to Evesham for the Big Game – a two day event where many VBCW fans mass their armies together for one great big dust up (although some, like me, are only able to attend for one day).

VBCW organiser extraordinaire ‘Mort’ has once again come up with a scenario, based on the fictional county of Midsomer (from the popular TV show Midsomer Murders). The basic gist is this:-

There has been an assassination attempt on Royalist hero Col. J T Dunbar. The colonel, who was wounded in the attack, is now resting after surgery.

King Edward is said to be ‘outraged’ by the attempt on Colonel J T Dunbar’s life. The King met the Colonel earlier this year to honour and promote him for his victories in the battles of Weston-Super-Mare and Axbridge. The Colonel had then taken command of Royalist forces in Chippenham, where the attack on his life took place.

The King has ordered Lord Cirencester to start an investigation in to the shooting. For his part Cirencester has given the task to Chief inspector Barnaby, ex of the Met now working in the British Intelligence Service.

Sources close to Lord Cirencester believe it was the Somerset Freedom Fighters who tried to kill Colonel Dunbar, however the SFF have denied this. News has emerged that the SFF have however ambushed a royalist supply column.

Chief inspector Barnaby’s investigations have led him to the town of Causton – held by the Anglican League. He must have discovered something fishy in the town, for the King has since ordered an attack on the town by his royalist forces and their BUF allies (including my Blackshorts and whatever else I can bring to the table!)

Thanks to a little role-playing via email, my forces have been able to reconnoitre the area, and, while been driven off by Anglican League Piquets in some cases, have gleaned some very useful information.

Using the Brigadier ‘38 rules, each player can field up to 2500 points worth of stuff. Currently I have 1700 points worth painted, so will borrow a few figures and vehicles off Giles to make up the shortfall. This will be my first ever big game and I’m looking forward to it immensely!

Friday, 30 September 2011

After finishing my Blackshorts, I thought I'd turn my attention to another idea of mine, the Landowners Protection Association - basically a confederation of rural landowners, toffs, farmers and other modern-day Marcher barons that have emerged during the British Civil War.

Here's a little 'history'...

When the Bishop of Hereford joined the cause of the Anglican League, support from the countryside was muted. While some of the more progressive elements of the Herefordshire set joined his crusade, the vast majority of the people that mattered (wealthy landowners, farmers, the landed gentry and such) remained staunchly conservative traditionalist and, while not necessarily seeing eye-to-eye with Edward’s fascist cronies, baulked at rebelling against the King. Neither did they openly oppose the Bishop, instead preferring to look to their own interests while generally keeping the fighting at arms length.

However the subsequent defeat of the Anglican League in the county bought a new set of challenges for country folk as isolated farms and hamlets, especially along the Welsh border, became targets for the various factions who struggled to fill the power vacuum left by the departing Anglicans. It was only natural that people would band together for protection and soon every farmstead, village and country estate had gathered a group of armed men from the local inhabitants for their defence.

With so many shotgun-toting bands roaming the countryside, clashes between local interests were inevitable. Family feuds, longstanding grudges and petty jealousies turned into low-level fighting, while some of the more unscrupulous landowners tried to forcibly retake land that they had been obliged to sell to pay for death duties after the war. In this atmosphere of survival of the fittest, disparate groups began to coalesce around their more powerful neighbours and soon the Herefordshire countryside was in danger of being carved up by modern-day Marcher barons.

The royalist authorities, grudgingly admitting that their influence did not extend very far from the city of Hereford and surrounding towns, tacitly encouraged co-operation between the most significant landowners, who, themselves recognising that something had to be done, formed the Landowners Protection Association – an umbrella group which nominally controlled all the local bands, co-ordinated any actions and acted as intermediary when serious disputes erupted between members.

At a meeting at the Green Dragon hotel in Hereford, the county’s notables elected Sir Barrington Patchpole QC as chairman and military leader of the LPA. Noted for his organisational skills and impartiality when presiding over the Hereford Assizes, Patchpole was also a WW1 veteran with sizeable holdings and family ties to the county that went back to before the Norman Conquest. He quickly set about organising a ‘standing army’, in which each major landowner would contribute a ‘company’ of men – drawn mainly from their own tenants, gamekeepers, labourers, house staff and local villagers.

Added to these companies, Patchpole also incorporated some less conventional units, including mounted aristocrats from among the local hunts, horse breakers from the hills of the border region and sharpshooters drawn from the many hunters, stalkers (and poachers) in the region. While mainly armed with the ubiquitous shotgun and lacking any heavy weaponry, the LPA could rely upon the support of the local population and a knowledge of the countryside that was second to none.

Using this force to keep the peace in the countryside, bring to heel any overly-ambitious landowner and protect the borders of the county from incursion and banditry, the LPA freed up official government forces to handle the ‘proper’ fighting – occasionally stepping in to provide auxiliary support when things got a little too hot for the fascists (for as long as the LPA deemed it politically advantageous that is…)

The photos are of the first painted LPA unit, the Foley Manor Fencibles - more to come!

Monday, 26 September 2011

With the outskirts of Ledbury taken, the Blackshorts dug in and waited while the fascists of the Three Counties Legion gathered their forces for the final assault of the town. The MHC, local LDV and the Anglican League decided to counterattack the fascists and drive them out before they could organise themselves.

The table layout

The Blackshorts held defensive positions in the centre of the table (left to right: the Metropolitan company holding a bridge, the HMG, Boys team and ‘Evelyn’ covering the centre road, the Marches company held a stone wall to their right. Behind them in reserve was the Monmouthshire English company.

Blackshort defences

Facing them, the enemy appeared along the entire length of the table, concentrating on the fascists right flank, and not the centre road as they had anticipated. They advanced, threatening to outflank and envelop the Blackshorts.

The MHC prepares to batter the Blackshorts' right flank

Luckily the BUF Three Counties Legion, led by the interim governor William de Braose, arrived at the rear of the Blackshorts, their armour on the right flank to meet that of the enemy. As per previous games, these mechanical monsters traded shot for shot for the rest of the game without really giving or taking much damage.

Reinforcements arrive to support the Fascist right flank

To add further confusion, two groups of Twiggy Mommet scarecrow protestors arrived – allied to the LDV in an effort to atone for their previous treachery and furious at the fascists for duping them. One company turned up at the right flank to support the Anglican League’s Archenfield Amateur Athletics Association, while the other company appeared at the rear of the Three Counties Legion!

Scarecrows at the rear!

On the left flank, a company of militia, the ‘Croydon Crusher’ and two bombers advanced against the bridge. The Blackshorts took casualties, but, supported by the HMG and ineffective mortar fire, eventually drove them back, knocking out the Crusher and gunning down the bombers.

Bloodshed by the bridge

In the centre, a company of militia, supported by an armoured car, Boys team and an HMG, advanced against the Marches company. Both sides took casualties but the proximity of the Blackshorts’ HMG and more ineffective mortar fire saw the attack falter with very heavy casualties (the sole survivor, the standard bearer, bravely withstanding fire whilst pricking Giles’ finger and drawing blood!)

Attack on the centre

Eventually the fighting in the centre had reduced to that of the MHC’s armoured car vs. the Blackshorts’ ‘Evelyn’ and Boys rifle. Both sides blasted at each other across the wall at point blank range, without causing so much as a scratch! Meanwhile to the rear, the BUF reserve quickly turned to face the Scarecrows, who, failing a resolve test to charge, withdrew in the face of superior firepower.

Point-blank range!

The balance of the battle really hinged on events at the right flank, where the AAAA, supported by heavy fire from an LDV-occupied hill and the scarecrows, shot up the Monmouthshire English, who had rapidly redeployed to meet the threat.

Fighting on the right

Unfortunately for the Anglican League, the arrival of the Three Counties Legion meant that they in turn were outflanked – HMG fire quickly taking out their command group. Outgunned and demoralised, the survivors of the AAAA ran for it, joining the routing mob of scarecrows, which had been shot to pieces in their advance against the BUF reinforcements.

Scarper!

With the defenders of the fascist left flank and centre free to support the right flank, the Anglican League and allies threw in the towel rather than continue outnumbered. The final assault of Ledbury was definitely on the cards and a great time was had by all!

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Disclaimer

Some organisations featured in the VBCW universe possess extreme right-wing or left-wing political views. I do not subscribe to these views, nor do I wish to promulgate them. Basically, this blog is essentially a work of fiction and no offence is intended.